Irish Studies Program Offered at Fairfield University Presents Film Series

From Fairfield University:

The Irish in Film, a free movie series sponsored by the Irish Studies Program at Fairfield University, opens on Wednesday, Sept. 28, with the first of its five films. The series, now in it ninth year, is part of Fairfield University’s “Arts & Minds” season of cultural and intellectual programs and is open to the public.

The films will be shown in the Multimedia Room of the University’s DiMenna-Nyselius Library on Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. All five films will be introduced by a member of the Irish Studies faculty, who will field questions from the audience after the screenings.

The series kicks off on Wednesday, Sept. 28, with the award-winning Pilgrim Hill (2012), directed by Gerard Barrett, who wrote and directed the documentary-style film. The story focuses on Jimmy Walsh (Joe Mullins), a bachelor farmer living in the west of Ireland and caring for his sickly father. The film explores the themes of loneliness, isolation and care-giving. The film premiered at the Galway Film Festival, where it won the 2012 award for best new Irish talent. Barrett also won the Best New Talent award at the NY Irish Film Festival (2012). The screening has been made available by the Irish Film Institute.

Adjunct Professor John E. Feeney, who teaches the course in the Irish language, will introduce the film. On Oct. 5, director Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins (1996) will be presented. The film stars Liam Neeson in the title role as the charismatic leader of the Irish Volunteers, whose guerilla warfare against the British proved so effective. Irish actor Stephen Rea plays Ned Broy, an Ulster Protestant and government employee, who sympathizes with the Republican cause. An interesting aspect of the film is Jordan’s implication of Eamon de Valerna’s role in the 1922 assassination of Michael Collins. Dr. Kevin Cassidy, associate professor of politics, will introduce the film.

The series continues on Oct. 12 with August Rush (2013) directed by Kirsten Sheridan, and described as a “modern musical fairy tale.” The film is about a teenage musical prodigy (Freddie Highmore), who has been separated from his musician parents, (Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Keri Russell), who in turn have been separated from each other. Like Mozart, the boy hears music in his head and believing in its magical powers, sets out on a quest to find his parents in New York City. Dr. Robert Epstein, associate professor of English, will introduce the film.

On Oct. 19, the fast-paced British thriller set in Northern Ireland, 71 (2014), will be presented. The film was written by Gregory Burke, directed by Yann Demange, and stars Jack O’Connell, as Gary, a British soldier from Derbyshire who is caught behind enemy lines during an ugly riot on the Falls Road in west Belfast. The plot involves a fifth column (“the enemy within”) with Republican operatives working for British intelligence. Dr. William Abbott, associate professor of History and Co-Director of Irish Studies, will introduce the film.

The series ends on Oct. 26 with Brooklyn (2015), based on Colm Toibin’s best-selling novel, directed by Jack Crowley with screenwriter Nick Hornby. The film features Saoirse Roan as Eilis Lacey, the young, intelligent immigrant who makes a new life for herself in 1950s Brooklyn with the help of an Irish-American priest from home, Father Flood (Jim Broadbent). Eilis, whose name suggests Ellis Island, meets Tony, an Italian-American plumber, and everything seems settled until Eilis returns to Ireland for her sister’s funeral. There, she quickly becomes absorbed into her own culture, but as a more accomplished and glamorous version of her old self. The film addresses the issue of women’s emigration in post-World War II America—both the gains and the losses. Dr. Nels Pearson, Professor of English, will introduce the film.

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